Many buildings have a demand for heating and/or cooling generated by systems within the building. For example, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems may at some times require a positive supply of heat or at other times require cooling, or both, heating and cooling simultaneously. Some buildings, such as supermarkets, incorporate large industrial scale refrigeration systems which incorporate condensers which require constant sink for rejection of the heat. Many of these systems require constant thermometric control to ensure efficient operation. Inefficient operation can result in significant additional operating costs, particularly with increasing energy costs.
It is known to use a ground coupled heat pump system to deliver heating energy to a building having a heating demand. However, when the building has a cooling demand, either alternative to the heating demand or simultaneously with the heating demand, there is generally required further operative systems to effect the cooling demand, for example an additional chiller or a system to operate the heat pump system, for example having a vapor compression cycle, in a reverse flow operation. Such additional operative systems increase the cost and complexity of the ground coupled heat pump system.
The efficiency of a heating and cooling system in a building can sometimes be rather low, because the system is not capable of effectively capturing energy which has been gained by use of the building, for example from human activity, solar energy, lighting, use of electrical equipment such as IT systems, etc.
There is a need in the art for a thermal energy system which at least partially can overcome these problems of known systems.
In particular, there is a need in the art for a thermal energy system which can have reduced capital costs and complexity as compared to known systems yet still provide greater efficiency of the heating and cooling cycles which can be selected either alternatively or simultaneously, with corresponding reduced input energy to the compression pump of the ground coupled heat pump system throughout the year.
The present invention aims to meet these needs.